


No Fury Like a Pirate Scorned

by letmedieahooker



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 19:44:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7520722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letmedieahooker/pseuds/letmedieahooker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mr Hyde uses a new batch of his serum on Killian Jones, but while Emma Swan and his better half search for a solution, all his worse self appears to want is to enact his plan to defeat Rumplestiltskin once and for all, by whatever means necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Fury Like a Pirate Scorned

**Author's Note:**

> I was prompted and encouraged by various people to write a smutty serum’d Killian fic, but the waves of plot and character exploration carried me away and now it’s turned into a multi-chapter monstrosity, and the longest thing I’ve ever written. There’s smut, there’s angst, there’s even some fluff. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

With her captain gone, no one had been around to look after the Jolly Roger. She hadn't been re-painted for months. The sea spray and sun left her whites battered and her yellows dull, and Killian had taken it upon himself this weekend to bring her back to her full glory. Held fast with a makeshift harness roped to the main mast, he was suspended alongside the hull just above the cold water, reaching out occasionally to feel it lapping around his fingers and smiling. He was finally where he belonged, home.

The paint and cleaning chemicals was starting to sting his throat. An hour more, perhaps, and he'd go to see Emma, probably still asleep as he hoped she'd be. He'd left early with the aim of getting back for breakfast, then he’d bring her to the ship for an afternoon out on the water, and be home in time for their planned meal wit-

A heavy footstep on the pontoon beside him broke his train of thought. Two other sailors had already passed him and bid their 'good morning's so he turned his head to greet his new company.

"Good mor-"

This time he was cut off by something hard connecting with his skull, and as he lost consciousness he fell into a pair of strong arms which dragged him from his harness.

"Good morning, captain," answered a deep, oddly sing-song voice as its owner carried him away.

 

* * *

 

 

"Bloody hell." Killian grasped for the back of his head as he blinked the black out of his eyes. His hand returned clean and the bone didn't feel broken, but whatever hit him would certainly leave a mark. He closed his eyes and stretched, checking for injuries. Everything else seemed fine, oddly there was even a pleasant lightness running through him that he couldn’t quite put a finger on, except for his forearm, which was aching insistently. He sat up, tugging back his shirt sleeve and frowning down at a red dot inside his elbow, his mind flickering through the potential causes. It looked like a..

His heart skipped a beat as a memory hit him. A needle mark.

"Hyde."

Turning, he saw exactly what he dreaded; a body lying next to him. His body. His old, long leather jacket covering his other self's still unconscious form. Killian's mind raced. They used the last of the serum on Regina, so he must have made more, but what the bloody hell would Hyde want with him?

Clambering to his feet, he stumbled towards his worse self, silently begging for him not to rouse yet. His mind flashed to the last time he'd seen himself like this, his former self; the infamous Captain Hook. That man ending up sporting an angry mark on his jaw where a jealous Killian's fist had just connected it, but this man, lying on his side breathing softly, looked almost serene. Killian stifled a bitter laugh at the thought of how quickly that would change when he woke.

Sliding his foot under the limp form's arm, he pushed it behind his back and dropped to his haunches to roll him on his front. On the assumption he hadn't been robbed as well as assaulted, he reached for the back of his belt, breathing a sigh of relief when his fingers met the length of rope that was still hanging where he left it. He tapped his pocket to check for his phone, fortunately also still there, as he pulled the rope free, planning to call Emma as soon as he restrained Hook.

Grabbing his double's brace, he undid the buckles and slid it off, hanging the weapon from his belt loop and reaching for the scabbard and pistol at his waist, opting to take the whole belt and put it around himself. A furious but disarmed pirate would at least be slightly easier to deal with. Killian looked at the blunted arm of the body, for the first time cursing how difficult he was to secure. He racked his mind for the most effective knot, tying the rope what he knew would be painfully tight around the bad arm's elbow and joining it to the good hand’s wrist before he made a large loop with the excess and slipped it over Hook's head. That should hold him for long enough.

Sitting back, he pulled out his phone, tentatively tapping the buttons which made Emma's name and 'dialing' appear on the screen. Holding it to his ear, he waited, stare not leaving his worse self's face.

"Killian?" a bleary voice answered. It was still just before 9am and she had been exhausted, still slowly recovering from their misadventures of the past months and having, to his concern, given herself more to do when she reclaimed her title as sheriff.

"Good morning, sweetheart. Sorry to disturb you, love, but we may have a.. slight issue."

She groaned and he heard her scrub her hand over her face. "What's happened this time?"

"The, er.." Killian paused as his double stirred, lowering his voice. "Hyde.. Hyde appears to have used his serum on me."

There was a long pause. "What the f-" she interrupted her curses with an anguished outburst. "What the hell? What is th.." He listened to her move and a dull thud as she pushed the covers aside. "Where are you? I'm coming to meet you." All the tiredness was gone from her voice, replaced by determination which he couldn't help but break a small smile for. His tough lass.

"I.. or should I say we, have been left in one of the warehouses by the docks if I remember correctly. Shall I meet you on my ship?"

Emma paused her rustling for clothes and he heard her stutter. "Wh-what have you.. done with.. er.. the.. other one?"

"I woke before him, he's tied up." The other body was still, his eyes just flickering under their lids. "You'll be able to aid me getting him to the station, aye?"

"You want to lock him up?" she asked, sounding almost confused, and then a flurry of activity as she continued to get ready. "No, forget it, we'll talk about this when I get there."

"See you soon, love." He listened for the beep of her hanging up. That must be hard for her, he realised she probably couldn't even confirm which part of him she had just spoken to. Hopefully her lie detector worked over the phone.

Looking down at the leather-clad pirate, he wondered on what Jekyll had told them. Was this how he saw his monster? This broken man of two centuries, all bundled up in bloodlust and lashing out at a world where he had no power, nothing to live for? His clothes, he considered, acting like his own version of the armour Emma had told him about. A uniform to incite fear, to steer everyone away.

A muscle in his jaw twitched. At least when this part of him was inside his head he could control it, drown out that boiling fury in rum and sex.

He ran his hand over his eyes and tried to reassure himself, he didn't have to do that now. His rings brushed his lips as his palm slid from his face, a reminder; all sins can be forgiven when someone loves you. Perhaps even his. Perhaps.

 

* * *

 

 

Hook coughed against the ground, eyes flickering open and brows furrowing when he tried to move his hand to brush the dirt from his face and felt rope pull taunt at his wrists.

"What the bloody hel-" he began, looking up to meet the stare of his captor and cutting off. His eyes flickered between a set identical to his own and his mind raced. "Hyde," he growled, trying to sit up.

"Aye," the other him said.

"Why the bloody hell am I tied up and you not?"

Killian gave him a cold smile. "It wasn't Hyde that restrained you."

Managing to disentangle his legs from his coat, he sat back, testing his bindings while he watched at the other man stand and step towards him.

"Let's go."

He tried to jerk away, a snarl curling his lip as his double's good arm looped under his armpit, but was dragged to his feet, stumbling upright and being pulled toward the exit. With little choice, he let himself be taken back out to the water.

While still in the same body, they'd barely been carried 100 metres from the ship, just enough to be out of sight. Whatever Hyde’s plan was it seemed not to require his immediate presence, he considered, or perhaps it was something he would  _ want _ to do. Killian pushed his other self up the steps to the deck, catching him by the back of his coat when he tripped.

"Careful," he muttered.

"Why are you doing this?" Hook snapped, glaring back at him.

"Move."

A few minutes more had him sat in the hold, staring up at his hook swinging from his captor’s belt as he searched through scraps of rope. Eventually Killian settled on some ex-rigging and turned back to improve his twin's restraints, Hook's eyes clawing back up his body as he turned over ways to get his weapon back in his head.

"You didn't answer my question,  _ mate _ ," he said, a bitter edge tainting his voice as he felt the new rope tighten around his elbows. 

"I don't trust myself, that's why I’m doing this," Killian hissed in his ear, waiting for a wince as he pulled the knot tight. He moved to kneel in front of his other self, finger outstretched accusingly toward his chest. "I know you’ll go after him, and I can't lose everything I have again because of the bloody Crocodile. Having Emma, having people who care for me, that is more important." His lip twitched, baring the white of his teeth as he looked over his worse self with a hard glare and a deep breath. "He’ll meet his grisly end I’m sure, but I can't be the one who gives it to him, and I'm not letting you ruin everything just because you're not," he tapped his temple, "in my goddamn head."

He flinched against his restraints as he watched his double speak, feeling them shift and looping a finger between the rope and his skin. Emma. Hook’s heart sunk, a sting in the corner of his eyes betraying him. She would never accept him like this. Hyde breaking him in two meant he’d lost her. He swallowed around the lump in his throat. He needed to get out. How could he provoke himself, frustrate him into leaving for long enough he could escape? What would hurt?

" _ Milah _ was important," he growled.

It worked. The muscle in his other self's cheek twitched and his hand flew forward to grasp his throat, fingers digging into his jaw and eyes boring into Hook's for a long moment before he spoke. "You think I don't believe that?! That I don't still care for her? We may be the same,  _ Hook _ ," he hissed the name like an insult, letting go of his neck with a snarl when he coughed a strangled breath, "but I'm not going to make any stupid decisions and get myself killed."

"So what of her now?!" he spat back, eyes blazing. Even during his time with Emma, thinking of it cut him deep, and the idea so explicitly stated freed from him a bubbling anger that rose from the depths of his heart to fuel his words. "What justice did she get? The monster that  _ murdered _ her still walks these bloody streets, still has us all under his heel." 

Killian's fist clenched but his eyes flickered, furrows in his brow smoothing slightly. "Enough. I'm done listening to you." He rose to his feet and stepped toward the door, turning his head with a flourish of his hand to continue. "And thanks to Hyde, now I don't have to!" Hook thought it would be more difficult to get rid of his better self, but he looked to be just as affected by the memories as him, still bristling with righteous anger as he stormed from the room.

His double slammed the door behind him, and Hook set to work shimmying the rope he'd now pulled over his elbow down his bad forearm, the focus it took fortunately pushing painful memories of Milah from his mind.

After many years and many captures, this was almost a practised dance, tensing and stretching as far as he could while the knots were being tied to give him space to maneuver when he relaxed, using whatever he could of his hand to nudge the restraint down to the blunted wrist where it would slide off. Once his bad arm was free it was often a simple matter to disentangle his hand, and while Killian had anticipated this, he'd also never had to tie up himself before.

Hook grinned, finally stretching his fingers in front of his face.

On the deck, he found Killian sat with his head in his hand, glancing down at his phone occasionally. His double crept behind him, a smooth wooden rod bouncing in his hand. The ship let out a low creak in warning as he made the final step, and the sitting one half turned, mouth opening in surprise as a weapon connected his head for the second time today.

"Sorry, mate."

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Killy?" Her heart almost stopped when she saw his form flat on the deck and Emma barely registered the skin her knees tearing as she dove beside him, hand rushing beneath his neck while her other, glowing with power from the burst of emotion, swept over his body searching for an injury to heal.

His eyes flickered when her fingers crossed his face and settled in his hair, pushing it back from his forehead. She leaned down to feel his breath on her cheek, looking into his opened eyes when she heard his slow exhale.

"Hey, beautiful," he murmured, his arm raising to rest on her spine.

"What happened?" She searched his eyes. "Are you OK? Was it him?"

He started to sit up and she looped her arm under him to help. "Slow down, Swan. I'm fine." He winced as pain flared behind his eyes at the movement. "Mostly fine," he corrected. Emma tugged him closer, lacing the fingers of both hands through his hair and pouring all her love through them, the light of her magic revealing the red tinge in his dark locks.

A low pleased sigh escaped his throat as her power flowed over his injuries, and when she leaned back to look at him he gazed up, eyes lit with admiration. "You're incredible."

Cheeks touched with pink, she smiled, looking down at where her hand had come to rest against the skin of his chest and trailing them gently through the hair there. "I'm so glad you're alright."

He answered with his lips on hers, a comforting warmth she let herself melt into until he pulled back with a tiny crease between his brows. "We should inform the others, love," he breathed against her mouth.

Emma blinked, trying to clear the cloud of emotion fogging her mind. His worst self, of course. Not having seen him made it feel like a bad dream, but he was here, there was..

"Two of you," she murmured.

"Aye." His smirk didn't reach his eyes. "I doubt it will be as fun as it sounds."

She blushed, turning away and pretending to look at something on the ship in the hope he didn't see the smile crease her cheek. "So, what happened?"

"I left this morning to work on this old girl," he said, laying his hand on the deck for a moment, "and someone, I'll assume Hyde, came up behind me while I was painting. Knocked me out and took me to that warehouse," he indicated with his hook and she glared around at it as if the man who injured him may still be there waiting for her to punch him in the face, "gave me the serum and left the two of us unconscious there. I woke before my worse self, restrained him and called you, then brought him here. He deemed fit to escape his bindings and hit me, again," he continued, looking up at her face before grinning, "but then my true love came to rescue me."

She pushed at his chest, happiness glinting through her mock-disapproval. "How did he escape?"

Killian's smile faded, his eyes dropping to his hand and hook. "I'm not easy to restrain," he said, shaking his head. "I thought I'd done enough, bu-"

"It's not your fault," she cut him off. He looked to object, opening his mouth to speak, but closed it again, looking into her eyes with a sad smile when she continued. "I know you, you would have found a way out no matter what. Do you know where he'll go?"

He hesitated for a moment, searching her gaze. "Aye, I think so. From what I understand, the Dark Grail your boy recovered from New York is able to rid the Dark One of his powers." His eyes fell again. "I suspect I would seek it out."

Emma stared at him for long enough that he glanced up at her, guilt creasing his brow. "You still want to kill Gold?" she finally asked, unsure if she wanted him to hear the disappointment in her voice. It was an odd sensation that clenched her chest, like hearing an ex-addict still craved their drug of choice. Not that it was his choice to hate him so much.

The muscle in his cheek twitched as he clenched his jaw. "I... I would never pursue the venture were I in my right mind. But the crocodile has done so much to harm us, all of us. It's.. difficult to accept he still.. still has the right to.."

She interrupted him with a deep sigh. He had a point. "To be here,” she finished. “I understand."

The crease in his brow smoothed slightly. “You do?”

“Of course I do.” The pair of them had rarely talked about Gold, not wanting to tarnish their irritatingly limited quiet moments, but she had thought about it when Killian sacrificed himself. The fury she had to quell just to come up with a sensible plan when she felt the dagger, calling to her as she sat in their house clinging to his ring like her final lifeline. “When I realised that Gold,” she shook her head with a snarl, “ _ wasted _ .. your sacrifice to destroy the darkness...” Meeting his eyes, she continued, hoping he could feel how close she had come to mirroring his bloodlust. “It was you, what you did for everyone, turning away from all that power, away from your revenge, that made me remember to take the right path. Gold deserves everything he has coming to him, so yes, I understand.”

Her hand instinctively rose to her chest where his ring rested beneath her jumper, his settling over hers as he searched her expression, a low awed whisper of her name escaping his lips.

“Thank you,” he murmured as his fingers grazed over hers.

She huffed, but turned her hand to grasp his all the same. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You’ve done so much more for me than you know,” he said with smile and so much love in his eyes she almost didn’t stop herself from interrupting him again with her mouth on his gorgeous lips. “I’ll tell you about it one evening, but Swan, we have to go.” Bending his legs, he moved to stand.

“Are you okay to walk?” she said, hand that was not holding his darting to cup his jaw before he could get up.

“Swan,” he rolled his eyes before grinning at her. “I’m fine. Honestly. I’ve recovered from much worse than being hit in the head a couple of times, even without your healing.” He squeezed her hand, rising to his feet and coaxing her up before turning toward the gangplank and encouraging her along with him. “Did I ever tell you of the time Zeus raised me from the dead?”

“Killian!” Emma slapped him in the chest and he huffed out a laugh. “Oh my God, too soon!”

“Sorry,” he grinned.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"You find anything?" David slid into the chair opposite Henry, watching his fingers skim over the book in front of him.

He had been sat away from the rest of the family for nearly an hour while they ate lunch, that he'd wandered away from, to pore over the heavy pages of Jekyll and Hyde's story. Snow and David had been quietly attending to baby Neal and discussing the implications of all the new people in town, wondering who they may have brought and what they would do, before she finally whispered to her husband that the young Author looked like he needed some encouragement.

Henry glanced up from the page at the voice. "Not yet, grandpa," he said, looking back down at the line he had been reading with a sigh. Snow was right, his optimism  _ was _ faltering. "Why would Hyde feel responsible for the people in the untold stories? It doesn't make sense."

"Hey," David rested his hand over his grandson's and leaned to look up into his eyes. "Henry, we got this. We're all going to help each other, OK? Come have some cocoa, we're trying to work out if we need to worry about anyone Hyde might have brought with him."

Henry gave him a small smile as he stood, picking up the storybook and tucking it under his arm. "I've got the names of all their stories here. I'm going to make some notes about each character so if we meet them we wi-"

The door of Granny's diner pushed open, Emma's golden hair silhouetted in the doorway making it look like an angel just stepped through the door and the dark outline of Killian not far behind. 

Her son grinned. "Mom!" he cried, darting forward to wrap his arms around her and nearly dropping the book.

"Whoa. Hey, kid." She hugged him and then leaned back to look at his face with a flutter of concern floating across her features. "I wasn't gone that long."

"I know, but I was worried. How's Killian?" he continued, turning to face the pirate who had stepped into the diner behind her, and was now looking down at the young man with a fond smile. Emma had left their home in a rush that morning, sending Henry off to her parents with only a few confusing details about her partner’s problem while she went to meet him down at the docks.

"I'm alright, lad," he winked before looking up at the couple and their baby, a hint of sadness creeping into his eyes. "But we do have a problem." David's brow furrowed and Snow's raised in concern at his words. Killian looked to Emma for reassurance, which she gave with a sad smile and a nod as she rested her hand on Henry's shoulder, before he looked back at them. "It.." he began, threading his fingers through his hair, "It appears that Hyde concocted another batch of his serum.. to use on me."

Emma raised her hand to interrupt the protective outburst she saw crossing David's face. "The current problem is, he escaped. The  _ bad _ one." Killian grimaced, looking down at his feet and she stuttered when she glanced around to see the pain in his face, stepping forward, her hand dropping to her side. "Oh, I mean.. Killian, I'm sorry, I didn-"

"No, you're right, Swan." He looked up at her, then to the Charmings, frown still creasing his forehead. "As much as I've tried to fight it, that dark part of me still exists, and now the.. ruthless villain that I've tried so hard not to be has free rein."

Snow rose to her feet, placing Neal in David's arms and stepping forward. "Killian," she said softly, holding out her hands to cup his elbows. "You're a good man. We know you."

One of his cheeks creased, the smile not reaching his eyes. "In all fairness, milady, yo-."

"Yes, I know what you're going to say," she interrupted, the firmness stopping his argument. "'We don't know the man you were'. But we know the man you are  _ now _ ."

Killian opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, gazing at her as she smiled at him.

“My mom’s right,” Emma appeared next to him, reaching up to stroke his bicep. “You’ve changed so much, surely that means your.. dark side, it must be less powerful, right?”

“I don’t know, Emma.” David said, his voice low. “Jekyll told us that the doubles are based on how we see our worst selves. How do you see yours, Hook?”

Killian cocked his head and stared down at his hook for a long moment, tension gripping his body as his mind drifted back through memories of all the lives he’d taken with this very weapon. “I see it as the man I was. Merciless. So consumed with my hatred for the crocodile I ignored all reason.” His voice dropped to just above a whisper, almost only loud enough for Snow and Emma to hear. “No family, no love. Lashing out at the world for.. taking everything from me.” He looked back up, glancing between Snow and David and then to Emma. “And now.. that man out there.. he’s lost everything that he regained here as well.”

Snow wiped a wet streak from her cheek and closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him and cupping his head.

All eyes went to the door as it opened again, Regina stepping through and gazing at the scene before her with a flicker of confusion, meeting Killian’s eyes with a frown. “Finished already?”

“Pardon?” He blinked at her, taking a half-step back from Snow’s arms as Regina stepped forward to hug Henry. She looked back up at him.

“On your ship?” she said, raising an eyebrow at his blank expression. “The work you were doing? Half an hour ago? Don’t tell me the Underworld completely scrambled your brain.”

“Ah.” Killian sighed, letting his eyes slip closed. “He’s in town, then. Sounds as though he’s taken my clothes as well if Regina couldn’t tell something was wrong.”

“What the hell are you talking about, pirate?”

Emma stepped into Killian’s side, pulling his bad arm around her. “Hyde used the serum on Killian. His worse self escaped, and it looks like you just saw him,” she said before gazing up at her partner rubbing his temples and wrapping her fingers around his hook.

“Where was he?” David reached for his coat, throwing it over his shoulder and kissing Snow on the cheek before he moved toward the door. “I’ll find him.”

Regina lifted her eyes toward the ceiling. “I can barely stomach one of you,” she let out a huff of breath and Killian flashed her a stare before she put out her arm to stop David. “You can’t go without backup, I’m coming with you. He was going to the hardware store, he told me he was doing repairs on the ship.”

“Dave,” Killian interrupted, a note of warning slipping into his voice as he met the prince’s gaze, “The Queen is right. You won’t be able to reason with him, mate.”

David held out his hand, taking a step toward him with a familiar determination, the same one he saw in Emma, shining in his eyes. “Let me try.” He threw another glance at his wife, smiling. “I’ll see you soon. Come along, your majesty,” he said as he pulled open the diner door, letting Regina through before following in her wake.

“Killian,” Emma’s voice came softly from beside him when the door shut behind the pair. “We should warn Gold.”

He hesitated, recalling their earlier conversation and running his thumb and forefinger around his mouth before he spoke. “Aye, we probably should.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Gold let out a bitter laugh. “Thank you for your concern, Miss Swan, but your pirate hasn’t managed to end me yet, and I somehow doubt  _ another _ attempt,” he gave Killian a sickly smile, “will be too difficult for me to deal with.”

Killian threw back an equally cold sneer. “And  _ I _ doubt you’d be so bloody smug without your powers, crocodile. If he gets his hands on the Dark Grail and removes your magic, we’ll-” 

Emma put her hand up between them, magic bristling under her skin. “Stop. Both of you. This is not the time.” The two continued to stare at one another over her fingers until Gold turned back to Emma.

“I assure you, should the Captain’s worse self give in to his nature and make an attempt on my life, I’ll call you to put him back on his leash.”

A low growl rumbled through Killian’s chest and he turned on his heel. “I’ll be outside, Swan.”

Emma watched him leave, missing the quick smirk that crossed Gold’s face at his retreating figure before she looked back at him with a glare.

“Happy now?”

He raised a hand, making an encompassing gesture at where Killian had been standing, his face creasing in distaste. “I liked him better dead, so much less.. mouthy.” For a moment all Emma saw was the imp Rumplestiltskin as he had been in her head, all glittering skin and voice dripping with spite. Another wave of power pulsed through her body as her calm faltered, but she held herself back, forcing her eyes closed and balling her fists before his voice came again. He was doing it on purpose, of course. Keep her on the wrong foot around him. All part of his manipulation. “Is that all that you wanted this evening, Miss Swan? You may not realise it, but I do have more pressing concerns I would like to get back to.”

“Next time I won’t even bother warning you,” she snarled.

“Yes, you will, dearie.” He looked down at an object on his table, not needing to meet her stare. “That’s what heroes do.” A huff and the scuff of shoes as she turned to leave was the only reply he got, or wanted.

He listened for the door’s bell before looking up at it closing behind her. The pirate’s silhouette turned from where he had been leaning outside the window and took her hand, glancing back into the shop as they walked away.

_ The boy will be his undoing. _ The prophecy echoed in his mind again.

Had Henry not discovered the Dark Grail he would have as little concern as he said he did, content to watch the Captain’s worse self spend another lifetime searching for a way to destroy him.

But Henry did discover it, and a chill crept up his neck at the memory of New York. Each time his powers had been hindered he felt the same; worthless,  _ weak _ . But the Grail was different. Even in the short time he was under its effects it made him feel like everything he was had been scooped out and replaced with a gaping void that would not seal, leaving him a crippled shell of himself, hollow. He wouldn’t let that happen again.

The solution was simple, find the Grail before Hook did.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Emma fumbled for her phone when it buzzed in her pocket, and Killian watched her face as she pulled it out to examine the message.

“‘We’ll keep looking in the morning’,” she recited, then gazed up at him. “From David.”

He nodded. “Aye, little point continuing now, it’s getting late,” he said, glancing up at the moon. “Half ten or thereabouts?”

She raised an eyebrow, looking down at her phone screen and back up. “Twenty-two past. How do you do that?” A smile teased at the corner of her mouth and a little flutter settled in his stomach in response. Impressing her with the myriad of skills he’d learned as a sailor never did fail to warm his heart.

“Years of practice, love. Timepieces like yours,” he tilted his head at her mobile with a wink, “Not as common in the Enchanted Forest.”

She shook her head and looked down to stuff her phone back into her pocket. “You’re a wizard.” Taking his hand, she started to move again. “C’mon, let’s go home.”

The walk was peaceful, considering the circumstances. Killian spent a little time patiently explaining to her the basics of telling the time from the moon and how it differed from telling it from the Sun, and Emma squinted up at it, trying to apply what he told her.

When they finally reached their front door, things were almost feeling normal. At least as close to normal as it got for them.

“Has the lad come home yet?” Killian asked to Emma’s side as she rooted around for her house key.

“Oh, no,” she said, pulling things from her pocket to try and find it, “I got a text from him earlier, he’s staying with Regina tonight.”

Smiling, he looped his own key on his hook and held it out to her. “We’ve the place to ourselves?” he asked softly, and she met his gaze with a sparkle in her eyes, shoving her things back in her pockets and taking his key, her fingertips lingering on the metal as she slid the loop up and over the tip.

“Why is that important?” she said, smirking as he glanced down at her stroking his hook.

Eyebrow lifting, his eyes raked down her arm and across her face before gazing off into the distance. “No reason,” he said nonchalantly, crease in his cheek betraying the grin he was hiding.

“No reason?” Emma tilted her head in question, looking down at the key with a pout. “Oh.” She turned and put it in the lock, glancing back at him with a sly smile. “Well, I guess I’ll just leave you out here, then.” In a flurry of activity, she unlocked the door and slid through it, starting to shut it behind her before he stepped forward in protest.

“Swan!?” He laughed and closed the space between them, reaching to touch his thumb to her chin through the gap from which she was gazing out at him. The happiness in her eyes softened to something deeper, a look he was beginning to see more and more, a look which made him feel like the luckiest man in all the realms. Emma Swan’s love.

Leaning forward as if drawn in by some force beyond his control, he met her lips with his, the hand on her jaw gliding back to weave in her hair as she let the door push open and coaxed him inside.

She pulled away to met his gaze, teasing visible in the creases around her eyes. “No reason at all?”

A little rumble vibrated in the back of his throat. “Perhaps a few reasons,” he murmured against her mouth, capturing her bottom lip and looping his bad arm around her waist to encourage her hips against his.

She let out a mewl which flared heat through him as their bodies entwined, arousal making his manhood twitch in his jeans as he felt her hand drift from its place at his ribs over his hip and between his legs. “There’s one  _ big _ reason,” she purred, cupping his quickly hardening length.

Of their own accord his hips flexed and pressed him against her hand, a low groan escaping his throat and being muffled as his head fell against her shoulder. “That all you want me for, Swan?”

“It’s certainly a bonus,” she said with a wink.

Raising his head, his tongue slipped out to trace the curve of her ear and he relished her pleased sigh. “Take me upstairs, then. And you’ll have your bonus.”

Before they moved, she peeled his jacket from him, her fingers lingering on his shoulders as she let it fall to the floor.

Both their shirts were shed when they stopped to kiss on the stairs, their hands roaming each others freshly exposed skin.

On the landing they stopped, Killian wincing when Emma ground her backside against his hardness, and her resolving to solve the problem by unzipping his jeans, releasing him from his confines and letting his erection flex against his stomach.

When she turned to walk toward the bedroom, he knelt and grabbed her boot, and she hopped, giggling, while he tugged it off, darting away before he could go for the other. Making a noise of complaint at her disappearance, he kicked off his own shoes before following her.

And then there they were, at the end of their bed, gazing at each other half-undressed. Time seemed to stand still as he took her in, watching her reach behind herself to unhook her bra and let it fall to the floor.

He sighed his pleasure at the sight of her exposed. He’d never tire of this. Looking up into her eyes again, he raised his hand in a silent request and she nodded, letting him close the gap and trace the curve of her breast with his fingertips, tongue darting out to wet his lips when he heard her hum softly, her back arching into his touch.

“Beautiful,” he breathed.

Smiling, she reached forward to slide her hand down his ribs, her thumb running through the trail of hair that led to his groin. “You too,” she said, meeting the tip of his arousal and looping her fingers to stroke down his length.

He flexed his hips into her hand with a deep groan as she caressed him, his eyes blazing when they met hers once more. “As...” he said through gritted teeth, thrusting against her fingers again, “ _ exquisite _ as your touch is, I’ll have your pleasure before my own. Lie down, my Swan.”

Releasing him and biting her lip, she sat on the edge of the bed, shuffling back when he slid his jeans down his hips and fell to his knees in front of her. If she hadn’t already guessed his intention, it was difficult to miss as he encouraged her to remove her remaining layers and settled himself between her thighs.

“Lean back for me,” he murmured, flattening his hand just under her bellybutton and looking up at her through his lashes until she complied. “There’s my good lass.”

He couldn’t help but lick his lips at the sight of her, slick and ready, the intoxicating scent of her arousal clouding his mind. Pushing her knees apart a little further with his shoulders, he leaned in to taste her.

In their few weeks of peace, he’d carefully catalogued every glide of his tongue and thrust of his fingers that had made her whimper and moan for him, relishing nothing more than to hear her pleasured cries when he kept her on the edge of bliss. The breathy gasps of his name that she was giving now were making him ache to be inside her.

She whimpered at the loss when he pulled back to speak, but he knew how his words affected her. “You taste like heaven, Emma,” he purred, letting his breath fall on where he had replaced his tongue with his thumb. “I adore you, I need to see you come undone for me.”

“Please,” she moaned. “Please.”

“I love you,” he pressed the words into her flesh as he closed his lips over her nerves again.

“I lov- oh  _ God _ , I love you, Killian,” she stuttered back, the warmth of his mouth and one particularly deep and firm glide of his fingers finally tipping her over the edge. So absorbed was he in the perfection of the moment, it took every ounce of his self-control not to pull his fingers, so coated in her arousal, from her body to drag over his manhood for that one final stroke that he knew would drag him into ecstasy with her. Instead he curled his fingers to her walls and groaned against her core, eyes shut tightly in an attempt to fend off his body’s desperate plea for release while he brought her down from hers.

“Killian.” She reached out for him, voice weak, “Come here, I need you inside me.”

He couldn’t help the choked moan that escaped his throat at her words, his arousal twitching, painfully hard, as her words refreshed a memory of what it felt like to be smothered in her silky heat.

Licking a trail along her body while he crawled up to settle in beside her, he murmured huskily, hoping to delay their relations, “If you take me now, I don’t foresee myself lasting long, love.” He pressed a kiss to her mouth, his arousal giving another hard jolt when he saw her lick her own wetness from her lips with a tiny hum of content. “Those sinful noises you make, my princess, simply the  _ taste _ of you..” He moaned softly, eyes slipping closed as he sucked his lip into his mouth for another hint of her essence lingering there. He hoped she felt all of the desire behind his eyes when he met her gaze. “The things you do to me, Swan, I’m near at my peak and you’ve barely touched me.”

Emma relished in his declaration, gravitating toward him to feel his words against her ear. “That’s what I want,” she whispered, staring into the depths of his eyes. “Please, come inside me.” His breath caught in his throat, but he barely had time to calm the lust fuelled by her confession before she turned her back to him, pulling his good arm around her and grinding her backside against his erection. “Please,” she turned her head to beg, “I want to hear you too.”

The way she moved he doubted he would have been able to hold back the indecently loud moan that she drew from him even if he wanted to. He pulled her close and soaked up the warmth of her body for a long moment before moving to nose her hair away from her ear and replace it with his lips, letting out a long, low sigh as he adjusted his hips and guided his erection to sink into her heat. “Perfect” being the only word he could muster.

He let her take control, holding her hip and rolling his to meet her urgent demands, each deliberate shift letting her take him deeper and his pleasure burning so intensely he could do little but gasp and whimper his praises the way he knew she enjoyed.

“I can’t hol- oh, gods above.. I need t-  _ love _ , I want.. oh, want to bathe your walls in my release.. my  _ goddess _ .. pleas-” His babbling was cut off by his own choked cry of her name when she clenched all her muscles around his straining arousal.

“Come on, baby, come for me,” she said softly, stroking and squeezing his thigh.

“With you?” he gasped. “Please, I want to feel you.”

“With me.”

His hand drifted from its place on her hip to settle between her legs, firm pad of his fingertip instantly finding its mark and drawing the patterns she loved while he gave in to his pleasure, her walls already fluttering around him.

Release hit him so hard he felt as though he’d drown in it and he buried himself deep, muffling his curse with his mouth on her neck, she crying out an “oh God,  _ Killian _ ” when her own peak struck her.

He kept up his slow, firm thrusts until his manhood protested from over-sensitivity, then stilled, setting his body flush to hers and letting her keep him inside her depths while they held each other in their afterglow, each pressing kisses into the skin they could reach.

“You’re okay, aren’t you?” Emma finally said, voice breathy and tender, just loud enough for him to hear while her lips grazed his knuckles. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be to deal with.”

He couldn’t physically hold her any closer, but he tried nevertheless; resting his good forearm between her breasts and stroking her collarbone while he kissed her jaw just below the ear. His fading arousal shifting inside her made his breath stutter and he tucked his head against the back of her neck. “At this moment, I couldn’t care less.”

“I’m serious,” her voice took a deeper tone and she squeezed his fingers, turning her head slightly toward him. “If you want to talk about this..”

All he wanted right now was to rest inside the woman that he loved with every gradually slowing beat of his heart. But she was right, they should talk, and he doubted there would ever be a  _ good  _ moment for this conversation.

“I can hear you thinking.”

He smiled against her skin. “Aye. I was just deciding whether to put off the serious discussion until I can feel my legs again.”

Shifting out of his embrace, she rolled over to face him. “Killian,” she said in a warning tone, her eyes full of her typical determination.

He knew that look well. She wasn’t going to give in. He sighed, cheek creasing into a pained smile and shaking his head with a shrug as he started to speak. “What do you want me to say, love? Any peace I could get being split from my villainous urges is hampered by my fear for what I’ll do without a voice of reason. I know where that led me in the past, and I’ve no desire to.. to _be_ that man, or see his misdeeds come to fruition, again.” Emma said nothing, just watched him carefully, her eyes flickering between his. He looked at her for a long moment, his jaw clenching. He hoped she didn’t catch him blinking the wet from the corner of his vision as he thought of what had gripped his heart from the moment he looked down at Hook in the warehouse. “What fills me with the most dread.. that’s been consuming all day,” he continued, swallowing roughly around the words, “is the concern that you’ll see me for the man I was and you.. won’t,” his eyeline drifted into the space behind her, lips pursing involuntarily like speaking the words would make them real, “you won’t want me.” He winced, his mind tormented with another image of her seeing his his demons, his inexcusable darkness, and walking away.

She finally broke her silence at his last words with a sharp intake of breath, and she looked at him like he’d just told her he was planning to drown himself, expression a mixture of anger and hurt and indignation. “I can’t believe you think I would leave you,” she said, sounding just as hurt as she looked. “I made my choice. I’m here, good or bad. Don’t you believe me?” Shaking her head with her thin lips parted, she shifted back and stared hard into his eyes. “Do you not believe in my feelings for you?”

Eyes dropping to the space between them, he muttered back, “Swan, I..”

“Tell me.”

He raised his head again slowly, eyes flickering away for a moment when they reached hers, burning with all the passion he loved so much in her, before he forced them back. “I do believe in your love for me.” The glint of hurt in the creases around her stare eased almost imperceptibly, but he caught it, and berated himself for even unintentionally letting her think he didn’t.

“Then what is, Killian?” He winced at the tear that slid down her face as she brushed it away.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax the tension he knew would shake his words. “You love me, I know you do, I’ve had the gods themselves deliver me back into your arms because of your love for me. There’s little more compelling evidence than that.” He raised an eyebrow with a half smile, still not quite believing his luck.

“But?”

“But... I don’t know, love.” He sighed. “Perhaps it’s because I can’t.. I can’t forgive myself for my crimes, so my mind is telling me that you can’t either, despite all there is to suggest otherwise.” Huffing out a humorless laugh, he rubbed his eyes. “Putting it into words makes it sound even more illogical.”

He felt her grab his hand and watched as she held it front of his face, pushing insistently at one of his rings. “All sins can be forgiven when someone loves you,” she affirmed. “Your reminder isn’t reminding you very well.”

Some hint of joy sparked in his heart that she remembered his words and he gave her a weak smile. “You’re right,” he nodded, then tilting his head with a twitch of his eyebrows, corrected himself, “or..  _ I’m _ right. Some more rational part of me, at least.” Emma was staring at him again, the anger all but faded from her eyes and replaced with a glimmer of something else.

“Look at us, we’re a mess.” She smiled, shaking her head and squeezing the hand she was clutching to her chest.

“Aye,” he said, turning his palm to press flat against her breastbone and feeling for her heartbeat, “Perhaps we’ve a few creases to iron out.”

Closing the gap between them that had formed during the conversation, Emma shifted forward to pull herself flush to his body, muffling the surprised noise he let out at the contact with her lips on his, and then tilting her head back to speak. “I love you, Killian,” she watched him intently while she spoke. “We’ll work this out. All of it. I promise. And your past.. I know it’s difficult for you to accept what you did, but  _ I’ve _ already forgiven you, alright?”

A hope speech. Emma Swan just gave him a hope speech. Her parent’s optimism was definitely rubbing off on her. The corner of his mouth twitched into the slightest of smiles. 

“Alright.”

 

 

* * *

“Ah, there you are. I wondered how long it would take you to find me, captain.”

Hook leaned against the doorframe and tilted his head, scraping his thumb over the tip of his namesake for a few seconds before pushing himself from the wood to saunter toward Hyde, his tongue tracing his lip as he considered his words. The man before him had clearly used the serum on him for a reason, a fact made even more obvious by his expectation that he would come looking for him, but there was no way to encourage the information from him by force. He could almost still feel the man’s unimaginably strong hand around his throat, such a battle would be over quickly and not in his favour. Nevertheless, he couldn’t look weak. Hyde was powerful, and a powerful ally was exactly what he needed.

“A few hours past, I would have happily come here with nothing but the plan to bury my hook in your neck,” he started, the other man watching him approach with barely concealed bemusement, “but I was struck by a very interesting thought while I tracked you down.” Reaching the edge of the desk Hyde was sat behind, he paused, gazing down at his scarred face with a dark-edged smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “We want the same thing.”

“You’re so sure?” Hyde replied in his deep drawl, putting his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together.

“Aye.” Hook turned on his heel, taking a few slow steps away while he continued. “You see, you and I have a common enemy, and as I’ve lived in this town a damn sight longer than you have, I have information that you,” he turned to meet his eyes, raising his hook, “ _ need _ .” His brows flicked up with his single nod. “And no one else in this town will give you want you want without a fight, I’ll tell you that much.”

He thought he caught a hint of curiosity in his eyes before Hyde shifted his stare down to where his hook was gleaming in the candlelight. The man’s teeth flashed back at it when he gave a cold grin. “Are you offering me a  _ deal _ ?”

Hook eyes narrowed at the choice of words, and he took a slow breath to dissuade the anger bubbling up his chest. “Looks like I am. But make no mistake, unlike the  _ deals _ ,” he snarled the word like it left a bitter taste on his tongue, “the crocodile makes, this one will benefit both parties.”

Settling back in his chair, Hyde upturned one palm. “To be clear, you suggest that in exchange for your knowledge of Storybrooke, we join forces to destroy the Dark One?”

With Hyde’s support, he had no doubts in his plan. This was his time. He would finally end the demon’s reign of terror, he would finally avenge Milah, he would  _ finally  _ be able to protect the woman he loved.

The pirate’s lip curled into a sneer. “What do you say,  _ mate _ ?”


End file.
